


Take us Back

by thegreatandpowerfultoaster



Category: Control (Video Game)
Genre: ;), Major Character Undeath, Multi, Post-Canon, Road Trips
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-16
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-10 00:54:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,037
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27585052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thegreatandpowerfultoaster/pseuds/thegreatandpowerfultoaster
Summary: "Yes? Who is this?""I'm not sure," the quiet voice says wearily, like they've thought about that question for a long time and still don't have an answer.(Get ready for an Expedition/Road Trip/Rescue Operation.)
Relationships: Dylan Faden & Jesse Faden, Other Relationship Tags to Be Added
Comments: 2
Kudos: 9





	Take us Back

It's an otherwise boring afternoon - the most exciting thing she's done this week was probably signing off an a reattach request.to try to write up a more comprehensive report on the fridge. But then -

The phone rings. Jesse scoots her service weapon a little closer to her, expecting the inevitable issue the Board will want her to handle, and then she picks up the phone, pressing it close to her ear. 

Instead of the usual static and sound that heralds the Board's interjection into her otherwise fairly normal day, there's silence.

So she waits, and waits, and started to pull away from the phone, when she heard a quiet, "Hello? Is anyone there?"

"Yes? Who is this?"

It's quiet again for a minute. 

Who the hell is calling? It's not like when Trench talks to her, and definitely not like the Board. This phone doesn't connect to outside the House, so...

"I'm not sure," the quiet voice says wearily, like they've thought about that question for a long time and still don't have an answer. "I don't know. Who - who am I talking to, exactly?"

Is it a trap? "Jesse..." She says slowly. Is that too much, if it is a trap? 

"Jesse. Jesse. I think I knew a Jesse. Someone told me a lot about her, but I can't...I can't remember. I have to go."

"Okay," she says. What else can she say. "Will you call back?" Maybe then she can call Emily in, or Raya, and see if this isn't just another "Normal" thing someone forgot to mention in her non-existent briefing. 

"I think so. If I can. Will you be here?"

"Yes." The phone teleports to her, when someone calls, after all. "I'll be here." The person(?) on the other end hangs up, and the line goes dead. She barely sets it down before it starts ringing again. "Hello?" 

Instead, static fills her vision.

_This call was Curious/Unexpected/Dangerous._

_We cannot trace the source. It is not Of Us/Controlled/Earthly_

_Keep in contact with the call._

Cryptic as ever, and it wasn't especially reassuring that they didn't know what was up with the weird phone call. 

Extra-planar entity doesn't know. Great.

Her job isn't all weird phone calls and shooting Hiss, anymore. Lately, it's all pretty nine to five, boring, predictable, except for the occasional lab accident, and she's never been happier.

This means that Emily is easy enough to get a hold of. She's going through boxes of papers in her inherited office, and she's got four piles and an absurd number of garbage bags of shredded paper, so far. 

And better yet, she's very, very happy to put it down and from at Jesse and ask what she needs. 

"Theoretically, could someone unaffiliated with the board call the Hotline. Not like, a regular person, but something else?"

"Is this actually a theoretical, or one of those theoreticals that we just don't want to file paperwork for."

"The latter."

Emily lights up. " I've never heard of it happening, but actually," she says. "I don't know all that much about the Hotline. But! Since I'm Head of Research, I can go see what we've got in it in the Archives and maybe give you a better idea?"

"That sounds great," Jesse nods. "In the meantime, I'm going to go see Dylan. I'll be with him or in my office, if you find anything."

"Sure!" She smiles. "Tell our newest Ranger hi for me."

She's talking to Dylan when the phone rings again. They're chattering about some inane thing, because in the two months he's been up they've found that they've actually got a lot to talk about, as long as it isn't about Before. Lately it's been catching up on about two decades worth of pop culture, which isn't super easy, where they both spend most of their time inside the Oldest House, but Jesse's finding that everyone has their opinions on what's worth their limited time and what's not. 

(Especially Arish, but that's neither here nor there.)

The phone appears on the break room counter, already ringing. Her and Dylan's gazes meet, and for a moment his eyes go cold. Jesse manages a smile and a dumb joke. "Excuse me, I have to take this."

He doesn't smile. She picks it up, and with no static filling her every body cavity, she tries just a hello.

The same voice as before answers. "Hello. Is this...is this Jesse?"

"Yes. It's me, still." 

And what's she supposed to say, after that? Luckily she doesn't have to think of anything. "I'm not supposed to be here. Well. I'm not here, but here isn't where I would be, if I was."

"I wish I could help. But you're not making sense. I still don't know where you are."

"I don't - it's cold. Everything is..." There voice trails off, and the static - no! - the _hissing_ starts. _"You are a worm through time. The thunder song distorts you -"_

Jesse is not afraid to admit that she panics and drops the phone, and covers her head with one hand and reaches for the Service Weapon with the other one. Dylan has the good sense to pick up the phone and hang up.

"What was that?!" He scowls.

She slowly straightens up and sets the shaking firearm on the counter. Once she's certain Hiss aren't going to come around the corner, shooting at him, she answers. "I don't know. Whoever called...they sounded like the Hiss."

"The Hiss is gone. It can't come back, Jesse. Emily did that presentation on why, even. Remember? I thought only The Board could call you on that thing anyways."

"And Trench, sometimes. I don't know who - or what that is. The Board want me to keep listening."

Even it is the Hiss? Even if it's a trap?

The phone rings again. "Its the Board," she says, careful to sound like she's sure. She isn't, but Dylan doesn't need to worry. It's a phone, she's pretty sure it couldn't do _that_ much harm."

_It is the Board._

_We have Triangulated/Found the source._

_It is not a threat._

_More information coming soon._

_Get ready for an Expedition/Road Trip/Rescue Operation._


End file.
